1,600+ Applicants for 10 Rec Licenses in Colorado County

How popular is the marijuana business in Colorado? Here’s one indication: A single county that plans on issuing a total of 10 business licenses received roughly 1,608 applications in a three-week period in January.

Adams County officials accepted applications between Jan. 2 and 22 for three retail marijuana shops, three cultivation facilities, three infused products manufacturers and one testing lab, according to the Denver Post.

To put the volume of applications in perspective, there were 322 licensed recreational marijuana stores statewide in Colorado at the end of 2014, along with 397 licensed retail cultivators and 98 licensed infused product companies, according to the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division.

In Adams County, the whole process will come down to luck, as officials will select the 10 finalists for licenses via a lottery on Jan. 27. The business locations will be in unincorporated portions of the county.

After the winners are selected, applicants will have six months to obtain a state business license and complete local paperwork required for marijuana-related companies.

If any winner doesn’t follow through, the county will simply move to the next applicant selected in the lottery.

County officials may increase the number of business licenses in 2016, the Post reported.